Thursday, July 24, 2014

Animal Crossing: City Folks is a Huge Disappointment!

I have known about Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Wii for close to 2
years now. I knew the game was in development, and I knew it would be
hitting shelves eventually, but my God the wait seemed like it
was forever. Heck, it even took a year for them to release to the public
the official name of the game, which is obviously known now as Animal Crossing: City Folk.
I got my copy last week, and imagined that this 2 year wait would
deliver brand new things to the game, and I could not wait to see what
these brand new things might be. I imagined all sorts of new things. I
expected a second social city where other online players could come,
chat, or talk with my character. I imagined being able to set up my own
Animal Crossing business in the city. I imagined I would be able to make
friends in the city, and visit their towns if they wanted me to join.

What did I get though?
I got a repeat of the last is what I got. In fact the game was noting
more than a huge disappointment. Being a pretty gigantic fan of Animal
Crossing, I have to say this is the most disappointing game they could
deliver. Seriously now. 2 years for a near exact replica of the last!!!
So what is different?
Well naturally there are some new things in the game. Of course you
now have a city you can visit by taking the bus. In the city you have a
few shops all set up in a drab little corner in the city. I wished it
was much larger and had more to offer.

Basically what you find in the city is shops that originally used to
visit your town once a month. Gracie has a clothing/fashion store. Redd
the crook is also located in the far right of the city, and a slew of
other familiar faces have shops set up in the city. The most interesting
thing about the city is probably the salon where you can go get a
makeover on your character to have him or her look like a Mii, instead
of an original Animal Crossing human character.

Other than that though the city does not have much to offer at all. I
was hugely disappointed. I'm hoping over time Nintendo will expand it,
let other online players in to interact with me, because honestly its
frigging boring. Calling it a city is an insult. It's more or less a
drab little town with bigger buildings. In all honesty it resembles an
outdoor shopping mall. There is nothing city like about it at all.

The 'city' aspect is the biggest difference in the new game.

In addition there are a few more bugs to catch, a few new species of
fish, and there are more fossils to fetch. Of course there is some new
pieces of furniture to collect as well.

For the most part though everything is the same. From the appearance of houses, Nook's shop, and the town in general.

The main gate will allow you to visit other peoples towns, but only if
you both have exchanged game codes, which was a pain in the keester
with the last Wild World game for DS. Why the hell couldn't they just
let players visit other players without having to go through the
ridiculous task of finding friends in online forums to visit their
towns!? More freedom in the game would have been a hell of a lot more
appreciated. Yet fans are subjected to switching codes with other people
in person, or online in order to make full use of the game. Lame! It
was lame with Wild World, and it is lame with City Folk! You'd think
with the newest Animal Crossing game, they would have fixed that!

Anyways, for those new to Animal Crossing, you'd probably enjoy this
one because it is new and likely very intriguing and fun. However if you
have been playing the game since the first release, don't expect
anything creative here. Everything is pretty much the same.

For those who had Wild World for the DS, you also have the option to
incorporate your game into this new City Folk game. I found it to be
ridiculous, because it is even more apparent the game is so similar to
the last one, that you can swap your old town into your new one!?

It is so obvious that it is Wild World all over again, just with a
small drab little 'city' added in to the game. Yay! Bravo! This is what
we waited 2 years for!?!?!

Anyhow, for those who have never played Animal Crossing, City Folk is
pretty much the same game play it has been since the get go.

Plot:
You are brought to a cute charming little town, where you pick out a
home in the town. Your town is filled with odd looking talking animals
for you to talk to, and make friends with. Mostly though they repeat the
same few lines over and over again, and having them in your town is
simply for that extra cute factor, because they don't, and never have
added much to the actual aspect of game play.

Anyhow, when you are given your new town, you have to work to pay Nook
who gave you the home. Every time you pay off your loan, Nook asks you
if you want an upgrade to your home. The upgrades allow larger space,
new floors, and more rooms to add your furniture to. With each upgrade
your loan increases, and you have to work pretty hard to pay back the
loan to Nook.

You can pay your loan off simply by collecting things and selling them
back to Nook. Nook will buy just about anything, so it does not really
take very long to pay off your loan.

The game is pretty much never ending, it is set in real world time,
which means if it is December 5th 2008, 5:15pm in your real life, it
will be December 5th 2008, 5:15pm in Animal Crossing. The weather system
also works the same. This is probably the most unique thing about
Animal Crossing, weather will match your weather as well, and its a
pretty neat incorporation into the game.

Anyhow, holidays also occur is Animal Crossing: City Folk. Playing the
game on a holiday will guarantee you some sort of special gift, or
piece of furniture for your Animal Crossing home.

Basically the game is about collecting, and paying off a large loan.

If you have done this before in Wild World, you might as well just
stick to your old game, because this one does not really put out
anything too fantastic for me to recommend it to owners of Animal
Crossing Wild World.

For those who never played any of the Animal Crossing games though,
you will definitely find enjoyment in this one. For those who know it
though, and were expecting to see huge new changes...
forget about it.
It is not worth the $49.99 asking price. In fact the asking price is
insulting for what you are getting.

Overall:
It's a skip for those who own a copy of the last game, and a green
light go, for those who have never had played any of the previous Animal
Crossing titles.